Economic Development Minister Ahmed Mohamed has been appointed acting minister of finance and treasury in place of Abdulla Jihad, the President’s Office has announced.
No reason was given for the decision to appoint Ahmed Mohamed to the role.
Both Ahmed Mohamed and Abdulla Jihad were not responding to calls from Minivan News at time of press.
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(0)The Maldives National University (MNU) announced the establishment of its Postgraduate Research Centre and strategic plan for 2013-2017.
The centre was inaugurated by President Waheed Hassan Manik in the university’s auditorium.
During the ceremony, Waheed announced a plan to introduce a Presidential Postgraduate Research Fellowship, however due to the lack of funds, only one fellowship is currently being established, reports local media.
Waheed urged that the knowledge spread by the university “does not contradict the principles of our country, religion, nationhood and culture”.
(0)Dislikes(0)Two men have denied charges of forcing a 14 year-old girl into child prostitution, the Criminal Court heard on Monday (March 11).
Ibrahim Manik of Heylhi, South Hulhudhoo and Hussain Manik of Hikiunimaage, S. Hulhudhoo in Addu Atoll, were accused of forcing the girl to “attend” to one Maldivian and four foreign men, local media reported.
The penalty for a person convicted of sexually abusing a child is 20 to 25 years imprisonment.
(0)Dislikes(0)Two Maldivian suspects arrested in connection with rape, assault and robbery of a young Indian teacher on Dhangethi in Alif Dhaal Atoll in February have been released, while a Bangladeshi national remains in custody.
The Bangladeshi suspect was taken into police custody after the incident as he was about to board a boat departing for Male’.
A community member from Dhangethi claimed that a large number of people came to the harbour prior to the police’s departure with the suspect and called for the Bangladeshi man to “face due justice,” according to Sun Online.
“Some people tried to attack the Bangladeshi man at the time of his arrest, and the conflict was encouraged by the island council,” alleged the source.
The Dhangethi Island Council denied allegations of encouraging a violent confrontation, but confirmed some people at the harbour did attempt to harm the suspect before police brought the situation under control.
Head of the Police Serious and Organised Crime Department, Mohamed Dawood, told local media that it was believed the Bangladeshi man had committed the rape.
“We monitored all vessels leaving the island during the investigation. In that regard, we first took the two Maldivians into custody. But later we arrested the Bangladesh man who was living on the island as his behavior was suspicious,” Dawood explained to Haveeru.
The three men were accused not only of raping the 25 year-old computer teacher, but of stealing her mobile phone, an Acer laptop, and MVR 9000 (US$583) in cash, a source with knowledge of the investigation told Minivan News.
Police recovered the victim’s belongings, and a knife believed to have been used to threaten the woman, inside the home of the Bangladeshi national.
The three suspects were taken by police to the island of Mahibadhoo in Alifu Dhaalu Atoll. None of the men arrested were over the age of 23, the source said.
The attack
The young woman suffered serious sexual trauma, according to police.
Speaking to Minivan News on February 11, an informed source said the woman had been transferred to the atoll hospital’s intensive care unit and was “bleeding uncontrollably” following the attack.
“The victim was taken to Mahibadhoo Hospital where she is being treated for the injuries she suffered from the incident. There was blood all over her room when the police attended the scene,” the source told Minivan News.
According to local media, when police arrived at the scene the young woman was found slumped near her bed, which was covered in blood.
A source close to the victim told Minivan News February 23 that the woman was subsequently transferred to a hospital in India.
“She has still not recovered from the attack, I have been in contact with her, but now she is in India,” he added.
The incident occurred on Sunday (February 10) – some time between 2:30am and 2:45am, the source said.
Local media reported that the woman was teaching a private computer course on the island.
Island Council President Adam said the young woman had been working on the island for less than a month, and described her as a “very kind person who was very friendly towards the local islanders”.
Police Spokesperson Sub-Inspector Hassan Haneef told Minivan News he was checking whether the investigation is still ongoing or if a case has been filed with the Prosecutor General’s office.
The Prosecutor General’s office was not responding to calls at the time of press.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Elections Commissions (EC) has said it has noticed a surge of discrepancies on membership forms submitted by certain political parties including forged documents, forms with false information and even forms filed under the names of dead people.
During a press conference on Wednesday, Vice President of the Elections Commission Ahmed Fayaz said the commission noticed the discrepancies after it received a large number of membership forms ahead of parliament’s decision that parties with under 10,000 members would be dissolved.
According to Fayaz, within the last few weeks the EC noticed that a large number of membership forms had major forgeries including forged signatures and duplicated national identity card numbers.
He also said the commission had received forms submitted in the name of people who no longer were alive.
Fayaz said the commission had now forwarded the cases to relevant authorities, including police and the Department of National Registration (DNR) to investigate the matter.
Speaking to Minivan News, Secretary General of Elections Commission Asim Abdul Sattar said the commission was now working to verify and validate all the forms that it had received from the parties.
He added that the commission felt the forged membership forms began appearing after the parliament previously ordered the commission to stop using fingerprint verification on membership forms.
In April 2010, the Elections Commission introduced a new political party registration form to avoid the recurrent problem of people being registered to political parties without their knowledge.
President of the Elections Commission Fuad Thaufeeq at the time said the commission had uncovered an estimated 900-1100 people registered to political parties without their knowledge, “from all political parties.”
The new form introduced required the person’s fingerprint, two witnesses and their signature. It came under heavy criticism from political parties alleging that the EC was biased in approving forms by certain political parties.
On November 2012, Parliament’s Independent Institutions Oversight Committee requested the Elections Commission cease requiring fingerprints on applications for political party membership.
The committee members questioned the efficiency of fingerprinting technology, arguing that no mechanism or database presently existed in the Maldives that could store the required amount of information.
Explaining the decision to discontinue the EC’s request for fingerprints at the time, Deputy Chairman of the Independent Institutions Committee, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Ahmed Sameer, said the Maldives did not presently have a mechanism or system to collect and store such information.
“In regards to issues with the fingerprinting system, the EC, Department of National Registration and the Maldives Police Service all agreed they do not have enough records or verification systems available,” he told Minivan News at the time.
The DNR was also reported to have confirmed that no fingerprint database presently existed in the Maldives.
The EC Secretary General added that another factor causing the sudden boost in forged forms may have been the passage of Political Parties Bill, which requires parties to achieve a prerequisite of 10,000 members before being recognised as a political party – and receiving state funding.
“Some political parties began campaigns to achieve 10,000 members and during the process we started noticing such [invalid] forms. They may have predicted that the Political Parties bill would be passed,” he said.
Sattar admitted the commission was facing “technical difficulties”, such as the technology required to verify fingerprints.
“Now we are working to formulate political parties regulation under the newly passed act, and we believe that when this regulation comes into force, it will significantly lower the problems the commission is currently facing,” he said.
However, Sattar declined to reveal the names of the parties that were involved in the scandal, stating only that “the commission will decide whether to reveal the details after investigations by relevant authorities conclude.”
Following the parliament’s decision to speed up the drafting of political parties bill, several smaller parties began membership sprees to reach the limit of 10,000 members, including President Mohamed Waheed Hassan’s Gaumee Iththihaadh Party (GIP), business tycoon MP Gasim Ibrahim’s Jumhoree Party and the religious conservative Adhaalath Party (AP).
Waheed’s GIP was accused of trying to induce people to join through illegitimate means, in a bid to shore up the party’s membership base. The inducements included offering “music equipment and a place to play for free” as well as “hosting shows and parties” for young people.
Apart from luxurious parties and entertainment, GIP also allegedly promised highly paid government jobs and promotions in return for joining the party.
Meanwhile, contrary to GIP’s approach, the Adhaalath Party (AP) employed a more conservative approach running membership campaigns under slogans such as “Join Adhaalath to defend Islam” and “Adhaalath, the path to paradise”.
At the time of the ratification of Political Parties Act, the Adhaalath Party managed to attain 10,000 members along with the Jumhoree Party (JP), while GIP failed and was removed from the list of political parties.
The Elections Commission has called on the public to be wary of the situation and report to the commission as soon as anyone noticed they were registered to a political party without their knowledge.
(0)Dislikes(0)Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) presidential primary candidate Umar Naseer has claimed he has “received information” of an attempt to plant drugs in one of his offices.
A post made under Umar’s name on his Facebook and Twitter pages stated he had received “intel” that an attempt would be made to discredit his name by planting contraband in one of his offices.
Umar Naseer is the Managing Director of both Whale Submarine and and Alarms Pvt Limited. One of building in which the Whale Submarine office is located caught fire on Saturday (March 9).
Despite the posts on social media, a source familiar with the matter told Minivan News on Tuesday (March 13) that police had already searched through the Umar’s offices looking for contraband.
“After Home Minister [Dr Mohamed] Jameel [Ahmed] joined Umar’s competitor [Abdulla] Yameen in his campaign meeting, police turned up at Umar’s offices with a search warrant allegedly looking for alcohol,” the source claimed. “It is an intimidation tactic I think.”
Police Spokesperson Chief Inspector Hassan Haneef denied that police had searched the offices of the PPM presidential helpful.
Both Umar Naseer and Abdulla Yameen are currently campaigning to win the PPM’s presidential candidate slot for the upcoming presidential elections to be held in September this year.
Umar Naseer’s secretary, when contacted by Minivan News, said that Umar was unable to comment on the matter as he was away on a campaign trip.
Asked whether she was aware of any office searches by police, the secretary stated: “I am in no position to answer that. I will get back to you.”
Minivan News was awaiting a response at time of press.
On Saturday (March 9), local media reported that a fire had broken out at a Sakeena Manzil property in Male’ – a building also used by Umar Nazeer’s ‘Whale Submarine’ company.
Soon after the flames had been extinguished by Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) firemen, local media reported that the MNDF equipped two well-known PPM activists with gas masks and oxygen tanks, who then entered the building.
According to a report in Sun Online, the two PPM activists went inside the building to retrieve some “very important objects”, but it had not been elaborated as to what these objects might have been.
MNDF Spokesperson Colonel Abdul Raheem denied reports made by local media, stating: “The fire chief told me they did not allow any civilian to enter the building or tamper with fire equipment.
“Once the area was deemed safe however, members of the public were allowed back into the building with the guidance of police,” Raheem told Minivan News.
(0)Dislikes(0)Police have arrested 10 people in the ‘Roma Beauty and Wellness Centre’, a private beauty salon in Male, on charges of prostitution.
In a statement police said the arrest was made last night at about 9:35pm in an operation police conducted after receiving intelligence reports about the salon.
Four Maldivians, four Thai women and two Bangladeshi men were arrested in the beauty salon, all of them were inside the premises when police raided.
Police claimed that when police raided the salon four of the 10 people inside the premises were naked and involved in sexual activities.
When police searched the premises of Roma Beauty and Wellness Centre they discovered MVR13,000 (US$845) and “tools used for sexual activities”.
Police said the office of Roma Beauty and Wellness Centre was also searched, where police discovered ‘’other items’’ in connection with the case.
Police said all the searches were conducted after obtaining search warrants from the court.
As police raided the salon located in the block between Ahmadiyya School and the UN Building, a large number of people gathered around the area to watch the raid.
The men and women arrested were teased by the crowd gathered as the police brought them out.
(0)Dislikes(0)Speaker of Parliament Abdulla Shahid, who is also a member of the Judicial Services Commission (JSC), appeared before Parliament’s Independent Commissions Oversight Committee on Tuesday to answer questions regarding the the appointment of a panel of three magistrates to the Hulhumale’ Magistrate Court.
This panel of three judges were appointed to preside over the case against former President Mohamed Nasheed for his detention of Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed, and cases against other officials from the former government involved in the detention.
Prior to Shahid’s appearance, JSC Vice Chair Criminal Court Judge Abdulla Didi and member appointed to JSC from among the public, Sheikh Shuaib Abdul Rahman, have attended the committee over the same matter.
Meanwhile, JSC Chair Supreme Court Judge Adam Mohamed has refused to attend the committee on the grounds the matter is related to an ‘ongoing case.’
JSC acted outside its mandate: Speaker Shahid
Speaking at the committee meeting, Shahid stated that he believed that the judicial watchdog had acted unconstitutionally in assigning magistrates to a particular case.
“In deciding upon the bench, the JSC did follow its rules of procedures. As in, it was voted upon in an official meeting and six of the seven members in attendance voted on the matter. The seventh member being the Chair, does not vote in matters,” Shahid explained.
“However, whether it is within the commission’s mandate to appoint a panel of judges in this manner is an issue which raised doubt in the minds of more than one of my fellow members.”
Shahid then referred to the existing legal framework, quoting articles to back his statement that he did not believe the matter was within the responsibilities of the commission.
He quoted Article 21 of the JSC Act, Articles 48 and 49 of the Judges Act, and from the Judicature Act.
Article 21 of the JSC Act outlines in detail the responsibilities and powers of the commission.
Article 48 of the Judges Act states “A judge can be temporarily appointed to another court in the instance that the court is unable to sufficiently complete assigned work, or if the court has difficulties providing services, or if the judges serving in the court has been suspended from their duties. or if other circumstances which may cause a delay in the completion of work assigned to the court occur.”
Article 49 of the same act states “It is the Judicial Services Commission, with the counsel of the Judicial Council, which will come to a decision on the transfer of judges to oversee cases in other courts.”
Article 55 (a) of the Judicature Act states “In addition to the responsibilities assigned by other laws, the responsibilities of the Senior Judge of a superior court are the following: (a) Determine the Judges who would adjudicate the cases of that court.”
“None of these articles say anything about assigning cases concerning a particular individual to a specific set of people. The JSC is mandated with the appointment and transfer of judges. But it does not say anywhere here that the JSC holds the powers to assign cases to specific judges,” Shahid said.
“Hence, I do not believe that the appointment of a panel of magistrates to the Hulhumale’ Magistrate falls into the mandate of the JSC,” Shahid stated.
“The reason why I need to state this here is because the constitution explicitly guarantees the right to a fair trial to all individuals. When things proceed as they are going now, this is being compromised. So I must speak out,” he said.
Responding to a question posed by Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Ahmed Abdulla, Shahid said he did not “feel it was the right course of action” to remove then Senior Magistrate of Hulhumale’ Magistrate Court Moosa Naseem from the case after he had assumed responsibility for the case.
“Moosa Naseem, who was then in charge of the Hulhumale’ Court sent in his recommendations for magistrates who are to sit on Nasheed’s case to the JSC for comments. This list included his own name. The JSC then replaced all three of these magistrates. Do you feel this was done in the rightful manner?” Abdulla asked.
“I do not think removing Naseem was the right course of action. There should be a good reason to remove a judge from a case from which the judge has not recused himself. I think that is a good issue for this committee to further investigate,” Shahid responded.
Asked about the formation of the Hulhumale’ Court, Shahid answered that his summons letter had detailed that he would be asked specifically about the assignment of the panel, adding that therefore he felt it “unnecessary to even extend [his] thoughts” to any other topic.
Political competitiveness
“As Speaker of Parliament, you have been working with us 77 MPs for years now, in a very politically volatile environment. You are also one of the most senior council members of Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), and we belong to your political opponent, MDP,” MDP MP Ali Waheed addressed Shahid.
“In these past few years, there have been times when we have acted very harshly against you. We even initiated a no confidence motion against you. Now to come back, you have just told us that you don’t think the assignment of the Hulhumale’ Court panel is legitimate. This is the panel which will be ruling on the presidential candidate of your political opposition,” Ali Waheed continued.
“My question to you is, under these circumstances, can you tell us in what light you see the events that are unfolding? Do you think the trial that is being conducted by this panel we speak of can be free and impartial?”
Shahid promptly responded that he did not entertain any political thoughts while serving as a JSC member.
“You have pointed out that I come from a specific political party, and you are right. Nevertheless, I was voted in as Parliament Speaker through votes cast by MPs from various parties. When I sit as speaker, I do not see any political action, and instead work as per the regulations and the constitution,” Shahid answered.
“I sit in the JSC because of my role as speaker, and hence as a rule, I have no right to harbour any political thoughts or mindset in the work I do there, nor will I do so,”’he said.
“In casting my vote in JSC or advocating for different matters in the commission’s meetings, the only focus I keep is on doing what is constitutionally mandated. Hence, even at a politically turbulent time, on a very politically contentious matter, I am sitting here in this chair and telling you that in my personal capacity I believe the JSC acted wrongfully in having appointed that panel,” Shahid repeated.
Chair of the Independent Commissions Oversight Committee Independent MP Mohamed Nasheed did not attend Tuesday’s committee meeting. He was also not present at the last two meetings of the committee where JSC members Abdulla Didi and Sheikh Rahman were summoned.
(0)Dislikes(0)A 51 year-old man has died in hospital after he was attacked with an axe while sleeping in a house on Gan in Laamu Atoll on Tuesday night.
Mohamed Hassan failed to survive the injuries he received during the attack and died on Wednesday evening.
IGMH Spokesperson Zeenath Ali Habeeb told local media that the man died last night at 11:25 am while being treated in the intensive care unit.
Mohamed Hassan was hit on the right side of his head which caused serious injuries to his skull, and his condition was too critical to transfer him abroad for further treatment.
The Laamu Gan Regional Hospital Manager told local media that the victim’s nose and ears were bleeding continuously when he was admitted to hospital.
Police Sub-Inspector Hassan Haneef told Minivan News that police have arrested one person in connection with the case. Haneef said that the victim was hit in the head with a sharp object.
‘’The investigation is ongoing and has become more serious now because the victim has died,’’ he said.
According to a source from the island, the man who was attacked was having an affair with a woman living in the house he was sleeping in.
The source said one of the woman’s sons was arrested in connection with the case.
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